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LiveScience
LiveScience
Tim Danton

32 weird technologies that never took off

3D rendering of what space elevators could look like.

We love outlandish ideas and companies that take risks — that, after all, is how science and technology progress. But with every success comes a dozen failures and that’s what this list celebrates.

These are some ideas that could have been the next big thing: concepts that got backing but ultimately failed to take flight. Some were unlucky with timing. Some appeared to forget entirely to consider what consumers might actually want. And some, a handful, may yet have their moment of success.

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